Happy Birthday Emily!
by Ms. KasPer
Summary: There is one week before Emily and the passengers of the Luna Moth are thrust into the mainstream of the war. For the chess game of war to unfold and swallow Alledia. When all your strategies, actions, and game are all but irreversible- That is not why we are here though. This is the countdown to the soon to be smash hit event of Emily's birthday and it's all about the journey. ;)
1. Day 0

**'Sup, I'm a new author in this business and to start myself off with is this first dibs prompt order I gifted to the cakemasterofpanem. Shout out to the cake boss yo'! I hope this doesn't embarrass you too much.**

**This is set between the 5th and 6th books, not that I have an inkling of what happens in the latter. First a reminder: k+ means for ages 9 and up, some content may not be suitable for children.**

**Everything belongs to their respective owners: Amulet to Kibuishi and his peeps, this prompt to the cake boss, and the fillings brought by yours truly. -KasPer**

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><p>After the fight with Max and the mountain giant and the new revelations of the nature of the amulets, the crew of the Luna Moth are left to their own devices as they head to a stronghold headquarters down south while the forces of Windsor and the reluctant Lufen are amassing their resources for the war.<p>

The future is looking grim and things have been tense lately regarding the next move and current state. Crimes against the elf minorities in these countries had intensified in degree and occurence. The state of the economy had hit home lately with whole communities impoverished due to intemperate contributions asked of the people for the war efforts.

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><p>In Alledia, war is seemingly inevitable. Emily is yet to see it for herself. In a week she will arrive at the Stronghold Headquarters of Astonot. After this week one could say it's unlikely she will be a child- no, it hurt to act a child after her father died- so it is arguable that she would no longer be herself again.<p>

During this week, Emily will train hard to be as close to what Alledia needs as possible. As she said before, "It doesn't matter if I am ready or not because no matter what I am going to have to be." During this week, Emily will be turning thirteen. It doesn't matter if she remembers it or not because no matter what she's going to have a birthday party.

Leon and Vigo have trained her hard so that she was as unsuspecting as if nothing were taking place anyway. It helps that Emily doesn't recall with all the weight of her responsibilities from the past few months.

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><p>Day 0- The first day before the final week.<p>

The crew of the Luna Moth have been busy making preparations. They naturally went off in groups to collect the supplies, all but Trellis who insisted that this was a waste of everyone's time and Emily would tell them the same with what was to come. Luger said it was best he stayed in his room and do reconnaissance. They had everything from confetti to a spotlight. You know, standard thirteenth birthday protocol in Alledia. Now they needed to see what it would look when it was all set up.

"Hey, what about Enzo's private room? " Navin suggested. It was him, Cogsley with Dagno at his feet, Morrie, and Miskit at the kitchen table while Rico, Karen, and Luger were preparing the day's lunch around them. Leon and Emily were training while Vigo was in his study with Ciel and the other robots, going over Silas's notes. Trellis was in his room doing... something. "Yeah, at night when most of us are asleep, he sneaks into this one locked room and spends a couple of hours there. I figure that it would be a good place since Enzo can stay two hours in it and it just looks like an ordinary closet." he filled in innocently.

"Oh my," Karen exclaimed from where she was stirring soup from a pot. Rico gasped lightly.

"Hey, are you calling me fat?!" Enzo stated, coming from whatever captainly duties he had finished.

"Wow, that's what you got out of it?" Rico muttered urgently with a pointed look at his brother.

"I just got here, b'sides, I've got nothing to hide that you can find." Enzo retorted, walking over to the fridge with a smirk.

"Nevermind, it's nothing," Rico turned his head away, chopping carrots on a wood board. "Except that they want to set up the party in your worship room." He said quickly.

Enzo choked on the milk he was chugging from a carton and dribbled it on himself in an attempt to not spew it out. "Worship room," Miskit repeated with an amused look. Rico just chuckled, somewhat glad that his brother was finally found out.

"Ehh, are you hiding something dirty in this 'worship room' Captain?" Cogsley prompted the wet cat with a curious face that only he could pull, not that Dagno didn't try to copy his "mama". Karen frowned, they seemed to forget that there were children and baby wyverns around. She was ready to cut off potentially triggering conversations.

Enzo tried to compose himself before answering, "How prepost'rous," he returned the half finished carton to the refrigerator and straightened his coat, sending milk at the room, "there ain't such place." milk drops shook from his moustache and whiskers, "Who's tellin' ya this rubbish, Navin?!" He paused to lick his paws, " Why-Why would he even be up at such a late hour." He dabbed at his coat with a handkerchief he produced, "Boy was probably just- Dreaming!" He reasoned.

"Hey, didn'- didn't you just walk in after Navin said that." Morrie pointed out in a nervous afterthought. "How-how would you know that Navin found tha- that out at a late hour."

"So it's true?" Miskit nudged Morrie.

But that was dismissed as Mrs. Hayes questioned her son, "That's right, Navin what were you doing at such a late hour?" Enzo just started nodding ridiculously and motioned his arms forward towards Navin in a 'There you have it!' kind of gesture as he took a step back and zipped out of the room for what was probably his only chance to escape a further interrogation.

All eyes but Luger's and Rico's were on the boy. "Huh, well, I noticed that Emily was leaving her room late at night so I followed her. I lost her for a bit and then I saw Enzo walking towards me with a key ring but he didn't see me, instead he just unlocked some door and went in. I thought it was a stock closet or something and he wouldn't be in their long so I quietly ran past it to find Emily. She was with Trellis at the back of the ship and they were just talking for, like, hours but I waited anyway 'cause, well, I was worried for her. When they finally appeared to be leaving, I ran so that she wouldn't get mad at me. I was running when a door opened on my face and Enzo walked out from it, I think he was in in there the whole time. I thought that I was going to be caught but Enzo left for his room real quick and I was able to get to mine before Emily. I checked the time since I left and it was two hours after Emily left."

He told them like it was small talk and not something potentially alarming (Like your daughter sneaking out to meet up with a punk and having hour-long conversations about who knows what while a catman opens a door on your son's innocent face after doing indeterminable things in a secret 'worship' room and your son, for some reason, thinks it a grand idea to have the party in said room for his teenaged sister, oh my word, Emily will be a teenager,) as it was for Karen.

Luger, who wasn't really listening until then, worried over his little brother who he thought was spending way too much time alone. What if he was abusing himself?! If only he could remember his own youth so that he could relate. At least he was getting out at night, he picked up from Navin's report. But was it right that he spent those nights in some area of the ship with a young girl while her brother secretly watched, even if it was only for a couple of hours? Who can keep it up that long anyway? Not him. These were the musings of the old elf as he was putting away some spices.

The thoughts of the two parent guardians took a split second to process. Emily came in with Leon in tow, glaring at her brother, "What are you saying, you followed me where for two hours?!" She demanded unhappily. Navin's eyes widened, he couldn't tell her or then she'd get mad and he would inadvertently spill the birthday beans trying to explain himself.

Miskit shot a glare at Leon who was supposed to come in and warn them when Emily was near. He just stood there with a blank fox face until he saw Miskit's sour expression and face-palmed himself for his inattentiveness. Navin was lightly sweating and kept on insisting that it was nothing. Emily knew better of course, she wasn't a little kid anymore but she couldn't place why.

It was Luger who saved him, "Hello there Emily and Leon, Navin was just saying that it's been two hours since you left for training today and he was going to follow you to tell you lunch is just about ready, go wash up please." He said to them pleasantly. "I'll go tell Trellis lunch is ready too."

The old elf was pleased to excuse himself and go see the young prince to catch him in and disrupt whatever harmful behavior he could be doing, so it would be correct to say that he was crestfallen that Emily volunteered herself instead. "Um, it's okay Luger, I'll go instead, it's no bother." Emily excused herself, brushing off protests from only Luger and walked to Trellis's shared room. Now Luger's thoughts started to resemble Karen's in some aspects. Particularly that Emily was sneaky, they were spending a lot of time together, and Trellis was a teenager.

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><p>Emily stood before the elf prince's room and gave an apprehensive knock, "Trellis, um, Luger said that lunch is ready so, yeah, come eat." Was her awkward message. She waited a moment for some kind of response, like grumbling or shuffling, any kind of movement indicating inhabitation from behind the door. Zilch. "Trel-" she turned the door knob and poked her head in, "-lis?"<p>

The room was void of moody elves. She opened the door completely, feeling more comfortable that it was empty. The room itself was neater than hers though a lot more baren. Emily took a few steps forward and started closing the door behind her until she realized how incriminating it looked. What if Trellis came in to her standing in the middle of his room with the door closed just to tell him that lunch was ready. Even she would find that creepy.

She slinked out before she could jinx herself and went elsewhere to search for him. Hey, she volunteered and goshdarnit she will deliver!- but first she needed to wash up, Trellis was elusive at times and finding him could prove a game of hide and seek. She wasn't going to spend so much time to tell him something that took, like, five seconds and would be easy enough to figure out considering it was midday and they haven't eaten.

She walked to the restroom that was just a few doors down and started to open it. It got as far as ajar until a force slammed it shut. It surprised Emily. The force of impact was thrown sloppily against the door and slouched to the floor by the sounds of scrapings and a thud. "Do-don't come in, jus-just go somewhere else!" Trellis's muffled voice sounded through the metal door."Go away!" He rasped more firmly.

Emily was taken aback, after all their conversations about the nature of humans and elves, the amulets, war, time travel, the meaning of life, the afterlife (that's right, Emily is the kind of girl to have long meaningful conversations about existence and philosophy) and he gives her that creepy statement. It wasn't entirely what you said but how you said it, Trellis!

"Fine I didn't need to come in anyway." Emily excused herself and turned away in a huff. She would just have to wash her hands in the kitchen. She snapped her head back, "Oh, and Luger said it was lunchtime like ten minutes ago."

"SSSsssuooohm," Trellis groaned disgruntled. Emily figured he slammed himself at the door for whatever reason and hurt himself, her second guess was something more likely and less innocent. Hey, she's not a little kid anymore, she knows things. Not why but at least she knows. She heard slight sniffles, too. What in heck?! Nevermind, she doesn't know why. Emily began to worry for her friend. She got closer to the restroom door again, one hand on the metal surface. "Grrrrm. Arrrg, huh, huh, huh," it sounded like he was in pain. Emily pressed her ear to the door to hear better, "Huhahuhahuha, rnmmm." He was breathing hard and he sounded frustrated like he was struggling with something.

She heard the sounds of shuffling as he got himself up and then footsteps over broken glass. Emily bit her lip and pushed the door open.

Trellis was breathing hard over the bathroom sink, hair curtaining his face and one armored hand clutched in close to his body while the right one, ungloved and- bloody?!- with small pieces of glass embedded in it, went through royalties to yank out a particularly large piece of glass that protruded into the other armored hand. Above him was a restroom mirror, two incomplete impact shocks broke the otherwise complete reflection of the bathroom and its occupants. Thick drops of his blood still pitter-pattered over the porcelain sink and linoleum floors.

"Oh my God, Trellis!" She shrieked. Poor Trellis was lost in his painful endeavors to acknowledge the girl's noise so he was genuinely surprised that she materialized and took his wounded hands in hers. He grimaced at the sudden movement and more blood gushed from his wounds. "You idiot, what were you trying to do!" Her eyes began to sting.

She pulled at the armored glove and uneased as streams of blood seeped from the openings in the metal and stemmed onto her hands and arms. Intense pain shot up his arms and registered immediately. The young elfman inhaled sharply through gritted teeth. Emily's face contorted into something like helpless frustration. The glove wasn't coming off!

She jerked it forward a few times before he laid a glassed hand on hers. She looked up at his determined face, letting go of his arm. The girl took a few steps back with arms by her sides, eyes brimming with tears, and hiccupped slightly. He turned his gloved arm over to reveal thick leather straps on his forearm that somehow escaped Emily's attention and proceeded to loosen them.

Emily grew dumbstruck and angry at herself for missing something so obvious and causing unnecessary harm to the elf. He ignored her phases and twisted the armored glove off of him successfully and with minimal pain. His hand plopped out a very slick and discolored appendage. There was one severe cut between his ring and middle finger that brought forth so much blood. Trellis's other hand applied pressure and staunched the flow somewhat. He carefully ran it under warm water, bringing a flushed color back to his flesh and dislodging a few fragments of glass on his right hand. Watered down blood ran into the drain from the shallow cuts and bled blood of both hands.

Euphoric relief graced his tortured self in merciful waves. A satisfied sigh completing it. Emily was numb up to that point and stood from stunned silence to quiet disposition. It felt wrong to watch him in such a personal and vulnerable moment. She took notice of the other things in the large bathroom instead:

The uneven, grey linoleum, especially evident with where the blood pooled and the disturbed pieces of glass collected suggestively. The bare white walls illuminated with fluorescent light. More sinks lining the long halls of stalls. The inside face of the door was wooden while the outside was a fitted metal frame that kept out the elements. Two bloody impressions of palms and a dip in the surface of the wood where Trellis met it.

It occurred to Emily that that could've been what did him in. Her eyes followed the disturbed trail of blood back to the pipes of the main sink to the basin where the two armored gloves were discarded on the edge and Trellis was soothing his broken skin. How in heck did that happen anyway! She frowned thoughtfully at the battered hands until turning to face the elf in question who was - LOOKING AT HER INTENTLY!

That got her out of her reverie like you wouldn't believe it. She held his gaze. Her palms felt sweaty, she didn't trust her own voice, and she was torn between bolting or standing her ground. Only because she felt he'd stop her and she didn't want to lose anymore face. Emily grew tired with their stalemate and spoke with a voice like sandpaper, "What?"

He shot back, " What do you mean 'what?!' I thought you left to get me help not stand there like a gawking thip!" She untensed only to sink. "No matter now, I got it under control no thanks to you. You're still standing there! At least get me bandages." He turned back to his hands under the warm water and muttered, "There's some in the closet in my room, it's unlocked."

Emily was flabbergasted. She left the restroom with his best interests in mind as she walked briskly to the kitchen.

She went around the ship and back into the kitchen to the dining hall where most everyone was situated in their seats, save her and Trellis. They busily chattered among themselves:

"So that 'worship room' is really a shrine to Selina? Oh Enzo, really?!" Miskit and Rico snicker.

"No, not at all- it's, uh, my stash! My stash of catnip! It's what I put in my pipes! I am absolutely coocoo for catnip, Captain's honor! Not saying that you should go in there but if you did- catnip!" Enzo parenthesized with his big fluffy arms.

" - and how is training going?" Leon and Vigo sit next to each other and speak of Emily's progress.

" Emily is getting good with defensive strategies, though-"

"-hmm?"

" It would be best if you trained her again. I know Silas's notes are incomplete but-"

"I need oil!" Cogsley slams his fist on the table.

"If it helps, the pasta is cooked with canola oil." Luger responds politely.

"I'm gonna go siphon some from the tank instead," Cogsley rounds the table for an exit.

"Navin, sweetie, you have sauce on your cheek, here." Karen licks her thumb and wipes off a smudge of sauce on his cheek.

"Mom!" Navin shies away. "Look mom Emily's back!" He points behind Mrs. Hayes to deter her attention and slips away.

Everyone else looks up at her.

"Where's prince charmless?" Cogsley says bluntly. "Lemme guess, he shut himself in somewhere and refuses to come out, even for you, huh. I'll be having my dinner with a full tank." He says as he saunters out of the dining hall.

"D-don't deplete it!" Rico shouts and runs out after him.

"Well bots need to eat, too. Come on Morrie." Miskit gives a bow and follows out with Morrie in tow. " Excuse us masters," they say to the children.

"Hey, maybe Rico will get the keys to that stock room and we can see what worship Enzo's been getting down on." Miskit's voice is heard. Enzo chokes on his noodles and everyone gets a feeling that he's about to cough up a hairball. He excuses himself and runs after them stopping to catch his breath every few meters.

"Will nobody stay and eat." Luger jokes half heartedly.

"Oh their antics, thank you, Luger and Karen for this wonderful meal. I must go and feed Ciel, too, lest I forget." Vigo got up.

Mrs. Hayes stopped him, "Vigo you hardly ate, please stay Emily joined us now." she turned to her daughter, "Emily, _will_ Trellis be joining us because his place is set so..." Karen trailed off.

Emily, caught off guard by the familiar outtake of life on the ship, was momentarily stunted and took a moment to recollect her thoughts to say, " He- he was in the bathroom and, well, he was bleeding heavily from- from his hands." She addressed the rest of the room and, looking at each one, thought about what to say next, " There were pieces of glass everywhere and I think..." she looked at Luger's elderly face, "it was on purpose but he then tried to stop the bleeding, it looked very painful." she looked down and muttered dejectedly, "I guess he regretted it."

"Anyway, he needs help and-"

"Wait what are you saying Emily? I don't understand." Luger's overwrought face wrung Emily's heart to rags. Vigo got up and left the opposite way from where Emily came, to the young stonekeeper's disillusion. Everyone else sat in silence.

A lump grew in her throat, she didn't mean for it to be so critical but she wanted to help him, though she didn't believe her own stretch of it, she felt that it would be better this way. "I think he tried to commit-Woah!"

Luger practically flew out knocking over his chair and nearly Emily with his mind set on his little brother's sake.

The close encounter with Hurricane Luger left Emily thrown to the side by her own autonomies. She looked from the doorway where Trellis must still be bleeding in a lonesome bathroom unless discovered by another party, not to mention Big Brother's inevitable arrival, and looked back to the table where the self-proclaimed bounty hunter and her mother looked back at her with mouths agape and noodles falling from the underside of Leon's flat, white snout.

"Well!" Mrs. Hayes stood up and motioned to her castaway daughter with a glance.

"Huh?" Emily looked up at her mom.

"Let's go!" She walked to the door purposefully but turned her head back. "You too Mr. Redbeard!" She marched on dutifully while the other two matched her pace, one in disbelief to what was said and the other incredulous to what was heard. Could you guess who'd be who?

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><p><strong>Yes, this will be ongoing but bear with me, I am not deviating from the plot, it all comes full circle. If there are any questions, concerns, predictions, grammar, etc. please address them in the form of reviews. This is my first fic, did I tell you that! Cake boss, your opinion weighs a lot here, this was your prompt. Reviewers and readers, thank you for your time. I will reply to as many reviews as I can and I don't mind giving spoilers or receiving them. I love spoilers!<strong>

**Give me suggestions and decent critiques, I'm the kind of reviewer who gives paragraph long reviews and I would embrace your own. Goodbye for now my precious fellow Amulet fans. JPuP)-b -KasPer**


	2. Day 0- Still no progress whatsoever

**Sooooorrrrrryyyy- so sorry, too sorry, very sorry, shamefully sorry, guiltily sorry, I bear all the sorrows. Please forgive me for my inactivity. I never meant for my leave to be so long. My excuses are not good enough. I feel very sorry. Forgive me those that care. Everyone else you can skip this if you don't really give a rip.**

**Well I'm done apologizing. Now for other matters.**

**Happy late birthday to you guest reviewer. You're 12 if you're a year younger than Emily will be here. I hope you had a good birthday sweetie.**

**To the fool that reviewed 'poooooooop' to me: I didn't want to know what you did when you read this. I doubt anyone else wanted to know about that either. I took it down so deal with it. Now let's get to the real reason why you guys are bothering yourselves with me. -KasPer**

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><p>Still Day 0- Trellis better have a good reason for the crap he pulled.<p>

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><p>Usually he'd be in the back of the ship observing the surveillance crafts that would come by periodically to watch and secure the piece of junk that was the Luna Moth. He studied the heavens and waited out the intervals of the interchanging security measures to take in their motions, their agendas, their structure, their emblems, everything.<p>

Everyone had been lax lately regarding any external attack. When they were ordered to head south, they had been promised and delivered a squadron of ships until they reached their destination. Any larger ships were indispensable and deemed unnecessary. As they got closer to Astonot, the security had dwindled to a handful of surveillance crafts close by while ships were supposedly at the ready on the mainland. The Luna Moth's occupants had been generally assured by the whole gesture but not Trellis.

His experiences for the years he remembered have made him many things including uncanny and speculative. He would have preferred the others to be alert of their aerial surroundings and aware of the gravity of matters but perhaps it was better this way.

Everyone was pretty nonchalant with all things considered. They were wrapped up with Emily's party and leading her off. He had to give the girl credit, hers was the heaviest burden and she had been taking it fairly well. She was more nervous about it than she let show and she wasn't reluctant to express herself occasionally. He learned this during one of their late night near light conversations, as she put it.

The first time was coincidental, their thoughts intermingled agreeably and they found that they could confide in each other. He had been seeing her late at night on agreement since. A few days ago they met again under the obscurity of the night and the draining light of the waning moon.

He was just arriving to their designated area when he noticed she was already there. It wasn't unnatural for her to arrive before him but to be waiting so long, as determined by her transition from forty five minutes of trying patience to a seldom seen state of self occupying distraction rendering her oblivious to whatever she had given up on waiting, was unexpected.

In simpler words, she must've been there for over an hour. She usually grew out of impatience after the first 45 minutes then kind of gives up on waiting so intensely and has her mind wander. But it hardly gets to that point because Trellis is hella punctual. She must have wanted to get there early.

The elf boy snapped his fingers twice before she took notice of him. She turned purposefully to him as if she was subconsciously aware the whole time, expecting his to be the first move. Before he even spoke, the girl strode quickly up to him. A set expression of mixed emotions looked up squarely at his face. Trellis chose not to say a word as he stood stock still and wavered on the idea of taking a few steps back from the fiery redhead.

"Trellis, I-"

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><p><strong>ParSio: Silly author, what in hell do you think you're doing deviating from the plot like that you little miser, you. You're going to confuse these little ones and they won't bother with us anymore. Now get your ass on track and explain to me why my homeboy Trellis went suicidal.<strong>

**You have the worst way of keeping me in check ParSio, my genderbent doppelgänger. Now don't curse at me or I will suppress you... Are you copy and pasting our conversation in the middle of this chapter? ParSio you ass, if admin finds out they'll- -KasPer**

**ParSio: ...Kas, nobody cares now get to the story damn it!**

**I am so sorry readers, don't tell admin on me! -KasPer**

**ParSio: *snarls* KAS!**

***Hisses* Be patient! -KasPer**

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><p>Recap...<p>

That's what Trellis usually did and that was how a certain conversation had started a few nights ago but, on this zeroeth day before the countdown to the young master Emily's thirteenth birthday, he decided to blow it off. No connection to the soon to be smash hit event itself.

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><p>Trellis stayed in bed for once. He spared the round of pilots from another shift of standoff between them and himself.<p>

It had been his routine for the whole time since their given security downgraded to a patrol a few weeks ago. Not that he cared but he could easily imagine the pilots shifting uneasily when he met them daily for their unspoken commute. Right now they were probably relieved that he didn't show up.

That was not as amusing as his former thought. He added a creeping paranoia to follow their short lived relief. Imagining their unease unfold to restlessness then anxiety and wander the edges of their sanity and imagination as thoughts of the sketchy elf boy's possible higher motives rained into their better judgement.

Of course it was just a thought to amuse himself, Trellis was absolutely bored. He thought that perhaps he could try to sleep into the afternoon for the first time ever. It was a tempting thing that appealed to the elf boy at the moment but now he didn't think so. Waking up early was a military drill bored into his habit.

He willed himself to try. He regrets it. At least he's trying.

The prince was trying to persuade himself that it wasn't necessary to keep up with the ship guards patrolling their paths anymore. No one else worried about an external attack so he shouldn't have to take into account all that he did. Why should he bother now? He already knew plenty about this set of security ships. Why should he bother? They were nearing their destination. Why should he? Emily would be fine. Why now? Nothing would happen... So why? He should just forget about it.

No. The instant you forget about tragedies will be when it happens again. The others could turn their backs on it for the time being. Trellis would always need to be there, for Emily's sake.

He pulled back his covers and drew back with a shiver. "Why in hell? Oh yeah." His shirt came off with his armor last night when he was taking it off for bed and he didn't think to put it back on. Even near midday there was a chill in the air with being high in the clouds. He braced the elements and made a second attempt to get up. It was especially cold in his room. Something about the ventilation not working right.

He felt the air on his skin and his muscles recoiled with the sudden contact. The prince resisted wrapping his arms around himself for warmth. "Let's see," he swept the room with his drowsy eyes for a pile of black armor and his shirt. "Hmm," if it were for the accumulated gunk in his eyes or the hazy hangover of a failed attempt to sleep for an extra six hours, he could not make out a pile of black anything in the dimly lit room. He did ask Luger to leave down the blinds.

He sighed and got up to open the blinds. A shiver escaped him as he walked around in search of the window. The crap in his eyes rubbed against his lids all wrong and messed with his vision. Just when he shirked it off and was free to see the pile of familiar black armor in front of him, he tripped over it.

"Ugh- *insert string of swears and profanities here*." He sat up and rubbed his hurting areas. He stopped his grumbling when his palm rested on his breast (don't be immature readers) and felt an acute rise on the otherwise flat surface. He hunted for his shirt and tugged it on. "That wasn't weird at all," he said to himself referring to the whole former action. "Just the cold, just the cold."

_It's okay Trellis don't feel embarrassed._

Trellis narrowed his eyes, "Shut up Luger," thinking that voice was his estranged older brother and forgetting he was alone in the room.

_Why would I be he, young master? You're still not out of it obviously._

"Ugh," Trellis wouldn't even acknowledge that voice. He donned the rest of his armor and set out, slamming the door on his way as if the voice from earlier would be shut inside. It wasn't but it knew better than to reveal itself again.

It was so much colder outside. The wind whipped around his white hair and chilled the already cold armor on his body. He realized he needed to add a detour to the john on his way up.

One trip to the bathroom later. Trellis finished washing his hands and was fastening the straps of his left glove when the mirror caught his eye.

I know what you're thinking, vain Trellis looking at his pretty boy reflection. WELL EXCUSE YOU!

In this reality, his body was bound in petrification at the reflection before him. A thousand words would give you a picture but there is no time. I cannot afford the overkill. So no photographs, only words.

Trellis saw his father.

Within the plane of the mirror was the form of his father, before the stone took over. Trellis could not for the sake of himself recall his face in such a state but he somehow knew that this was his father.

"Father," he whispered unwaveringly, afraid of his own voice, of the truth within it. As shocking as it appeared, it changed. The visage of the Erl King materialized onto it's face. Trellis didn't move, neither did the figure in the mirror. Trellis gulped nervously, the figure did nothing. His brain was fuzzy since the first apparition but at the very least he could move, no longer tethered by some intangible hold into immobility.

He raised his right hand tentatively to his face, the counter image reflected his motions. The only difference was that where Trellis lingered to trace his profile ,expecting the reflection to do the same, it betrayed him. Instead it reached across its face. Trellis's eyes widened and he stopped his own ministrations. It hooked its fingers under the mask. Trellis held his breath wanting it to stop, afraid of the skin beneath. It pried the mask off its face and opened its mouth as if it were taking in a much needed breath. Trellis's jaw dropped and lowered his hand back to his side, clenching into a fist on its way.

The face was his.

It looks at him coolly and indifferent, like he were a new servant it needed to be bothered with. After a while of looking at Trellis calculatingly, it smirked as if it figured him out and held the mask off handedly like it were offering it to him. You could not imagine Trellis's face before, so don't hurt yourself trying, but now it was very safe to say he looked angry, pissed off even. Pissed off is the better term. He was pissed off.

He punches the mirror with his right fist. Bits of glass turn into unpredictable projectiles and flew out at the immediate area being the bathroom floor, sink basin, and Trellis while the shards beneath his fist become one with his vulnerable flesh. It just side steps to the right with surprise in Trellis's stolen features before it hardens to the face of the Elf King post amulet takeover. It's not his father, it never was. It's dead gaze analyzes the spot where the 'prodigal' son left a cracked center piece with his fist before turning back to said son, who watched him obsessively, with disappointment and scorn. Another flare of concentrated anger surged through the young prince and he threw a left hook in response. The image had dissipated before he even made contact, throwing him off to see his own reflection instead.

It can't be certain what happened. Wether his angled shot disrupted the glass in such pattern. Wether the glove was already in such disrepair. It isn't known. It happened much too quickly. It was the kind of thing where people would wonder how stupid you had to be to pull that off. It was really that incredible. Who knows how it happened, though Trellis will probably spill later if he doesn't spill soon from blood loss, but this is what the end result was:

The glove he wore was torn between his ring and middle finger by a large piece of glass. Its deep penetration due to the initial force and unbroken thrust of the punch. He could feel it sever many things on entrance, important things.

You haven't known such close agony. Of nearly getting your hand ripped in two. Feeling the heat of your gushing blood almost scalding. A numbing of your nerves that cannot wash away the waves of pain but increases them because that limb is unresponsive, unmoving. An undesireable fear that it won't move again. The unknown prospect of being invalid. The empty relief that it can move, it was but the bipolarity of the hot blood and numbness that overrode your senses and cut the ties with the limb itself. No, that was due to the possibly artery severing cut. The glove concealed the gore that was just beneath. To not see the extent of the damage was a blessing and a curse.

He could not believe it. Such strong pain emanating from the one place. It stole his voice so that the only protests came from his own body language and the crescendo building up in his throat to turn a guttural scream.

It was all bound to burst when the door creaked open. Driving on pure instinct here, he rushed the door and slammed himself against it. Bad idea. Instinctively he brought out his hands to catch himself and we know how that would end. His arms gave way and the rest of him came crashing into the door, leaving a dent. Instinct is an unreliable subconscious.

He slides to the floor, reserves of strength brought out at the whim of such short notice were enough to keep him from screaming bloody murder and actually manage to vent through sharp breathes. Standing up was not possible. Even this was done at great sacrifice, "Do- don't come in, jus-just go somewhere else!" That sounded so weak. "Go away!" That was better. Wait, what if it was just the wind and he was screaming at nobody? Or an innocent passerby? What if they decided to come in? To hell with everything.

"Fine I didn't need to come in anyway," it sounded like Emily. She would probably be the most understanding person to rely on right now but the last person he wanted to to find out. At least it sounded like she was leaving. She said something else but that may have been the wind or the pain giving him a headache to boot.

He slowly gave up his resistance and let the pain bring out his cries in small moans and groans as he picked out the glass. He raised his head and saw red, literally. His blood left trails as if a life-size paintbrush had impaled him and dragged its bristles on the floor. It would do no good to remain there until the large wound were attended to and cleaned. He knew that once it were out he wouldn't have the will in him to get up and finish the job. He stood with difficulty and made his way back to the sink, careful not to slip in the blood and glass.

Trellis was finally there. He had propped himself up on the rim of the sink with his right hand. Pain still surging but less than if he used his other arm, obviously. When he trusted himself enough to stand on his own, he relinquished his death grip on the sink and turned attention to the big task at hand. It took his all to pull out the piece of glass and imagined it to be comparably like pulling teeth, your own. The pain was crippling just like he predicted. It was also deafening, his hearing was a resonating ring that dulled his senses. If his knees weren't locked then he would of surely collapsed. Everything he felt was a barrage of white noise.

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><p><strong>Please read and review. -KasPer<strong>


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